Wiest scores a pair to lead Ephrata past Trojans

For the first 40 minutes Tuesday vs. Chambersburg in the opening round of the District 4A girls soccer playoffs, Ephrata dictated play, looked well-rested from a week-and-a-half of idle time since it last played, and seemed poised to hold on to a fairly easy victory.

Leading 2-0 at the break, things appeared to be well in control.

Then all heck broke loose in the second half when Chambersburg threw the kitchen sink at the Lady Mounts. The 13th seeded Trojans (9-10) cut it to one early in the second, and had several other quality opportunities to draw even that were denied only by the stellar play of Ephrata keeper Jocelyn Umana.

But by midway through the second half, the Lady Mounts regained their footing. And when Abbie Wiest scored her second goal of the game with 26 seconds to go, Ephrata (17-2-1) held on to advance with a 3-1 win.

“It’s huge (to get the win),” Ephrata Coach Wes Deininger said following the victory. “And to score that third goal at the end was awesome to see. It’s a playoff match and it’s always going to be testy. They were a competitive team and they made it hard on us.”

With the win, fourth-seeded Ephrata moves into Saturday’s quarterfinal round where the Lady Mounts will host Carlisle (12-7), a 3-1 first-round winner over Red Lion, at 7 p.m. at Mountaineer Field.

Ephrata broke on top 1-0 in the game’s 11th minute when Maddie Root and Reagan McCarty worked a nice give-and-go. With a defender between them, Root hit McCarty, who went right back to Root, who then drilled a shot off the right post and into the net.

The Lady Mounts made it 2-0 some 11 minutes later when Mya Mahlandt fed Wiest down the middle and the junior split two defenders and put her shot past Trojan keeper Whitney Dorcely and into the left corner of the net.

“To come out and score two goals in the first half of any match is huge for confidence and momentum…we could ride it to the end,” Deininger said.

Not without a few anxious moments for the home team.

Chambersburg came out a different side in the second half, tilting the field toward the Ephrata net. Eight minutes into the second, Ephrata keeper Jocelyn Umana (5 saves) robbed Gabbie Lecuona with a nice diving save. However, seven minutes later on an almost identical play, Lecuona’s blast from the top of the 18 beat Umana under the crossbar to cut the Ephrata lead to 2-1.

“The second half it seemed like, for whatever reason, we started to open up space defensively,” Deininger said. “I’m not sure why…maybe that’s legs, maybe that’s not playing for a week. But the space started to become available.”

Chambersburg threatened a few more times but Umana was equal to the task. Then, in the final minute, McCarty fed Wiest, whose looping shot got past Dorcely (6 saves) with 26 seconds to play to seal the win.

For the game, Ephrata led 9-6 in shots and carried a 7-2 advantage in corners.